Francesco Diodati | Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart) (original) (raw)
Conference Presentations by Francesco Diodati
Diodati F., Pais I., Bonifacio F., Lodigiani R. (2024), Long Term Care policy and care work - Italy. Socio-economic literature report at a Country level: Italy. Origami project. Disponibile a: https://origamiproject.it/reports/d2.1-italy.pdf, 2024
This report on long-term care policy in Italy before and after the pandemic comes from the compar... more This report on long-term care policy in Italy before and after the pandemic comes from the comparative project ORIGAMI – home care digital platforms and Industrial relations - funded by DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion). Based on a non-systematic review of the recent quantitative and qualitative studies and the reports from NGOs and trade unions, the policy analysis calls for the absence of a stronger role play by the State in formalizing the care market, which implies the involvement of healthcare and social services. Without state regulations, the increasing marketization of private care tends to increase social inequalities, produce benefits only for a small part of the population, and generate limited regularization trends.
![Research paper thumbnail of IL SEMESTRALE N 0 ott2022 FINALE[40984]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/107713884/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Roberto Plevano nasce a Chiavenna (SO) nel 1948. La carriera artistica inizia a 23 anni a Milano.... more Roberto Plevano nasce a Chiavenna (SO) nel 1948. La carriera artistica inizia a 23 anni a Milano. Le prime opere raffigurano i luoghi dell'infanzia, le montagne della Valchiavenna, la casa natia, ma anche vedute urbane di Milano in cui Plevano affina la tecnica pittorica, acquisita da autodidatta. Dopo i primi anni figurativi avviene la svolta: le forme delle case, delle montagne, dei navigli milanesi, iniziano a divenire sintetiche e geometriche fino ad abbandonare del tutto la raffigurazione del visibile. Inizia qui un percorso di ricerca sull'astratto che dura tutt'ora. LA COPERTINA DI QUESTO NUMERO ROBERTO PLEVANO Regata velica o della cristallina molteplicità (1987)-olio su tela-120 x 80 cm-collezione privata http://www.plevano.com/ L'anno scorso si è svolto un bell'incontro tra Con piacere e come omaggio al Maestro, ve lo riproponiamo al seguente link: Roberto Plevano e l'Associazione Nestore. e diverso, raccogliere le vostre opinioni in generale, sui cambiamenti introdotti e sulle specifiche parti. Se la nostra proposta vi interessa, se è eccessiva, adeguata, equilibrata e godibile, ce lo direte voi. Ricordiamoci tutti che i cambiamenti non finiscono mai. LE IMMAGINI DELLA SEZIONE TEMATICA "INVECCHIAMENTO ATTIVO" Nella prima sezione della rivista abbiamo scelto, dove l'impaginazione lo permetteva, come alleggerimento al testo, alcuni dettagli-molto ravvicinati-di opere pittoriche prodotte da artisti in età avanzata, scelta che ci è sembrata in linea con il tema di questo numero. Per questa operazione abbiamo utilizzato immagini ad altissima risoluzione digitalizzate da Google Arts & Culture, che ci fa piacere segnalarvi per la qualità e la quantità degli spunti che vi potete trovare. di utilizzare https://artsandculture.google.com/ https://youtu.be/JP2BvflSLEI Dove non diversamente specificato, tutti i testi contenuti nella presente pubblicazione ricadono sotto una licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione 4.
Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, a... more Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, and social isolation experienced in taking care of people with chronic disorders, mostly elderly persons affected by neurodegenerative diseases often requiring intensive assistance for years.
The carers movement re-calls in part the ʻpersonhood movementʼ (Leibing 2006; 2017; Moser 2011), which have contested the cultural vision of dementia and chronic-degenerative diseases as a loss of personhood and as a disruption of social life. This paper presents a preliminary set of ethnographic data collected from NGOs' and social services' carer support groups in Northen Italy. Drawing on the consideration of fatigue as an intrinsic component of care rather than as an aberration and anomaly (Danely 2017), I aim to argue that cultural meanings related to fatigue can lead to the re-negotiation of ethical norms of kinship and relatedness present in biomedical environments, that challenge the validity of reductionist, medicalized models of the ʻcare burdenʻ (Greenwood et al. 2018), and celebratory narratives of the social value of family home care (Leibing 2017) in the context of intensive population aging. Sharing care experiences throughout carer groups can result in calling into question individual and collective responsibilities toward others in need (Levinas 1978; Rapport 2018), by putting into crisis the idea of an exclusive dyadic relationship between a care-giver and a care-recipient (Taylor 2017) and thus redefining the boundaries of both traditional family and communal obligations to care (Goodwin, Hawkins 2018). At the same time, the narrations on the care fatigue have embedded the ambiguities related to the distinctions between the subjectivities of paid and voluntary (family) carers, as well as between recognized healthcare professionals and underestimated migrant (home) care workers (Muehelebach 2012; Sadler 2013; Amrith 2017).
The ambiguities present in the public claims of the carers movement confirm that the notions and ethics of care have an enormous potential of both inclusion and exclusion (Alber, Drotbohm 2016: 1-3).
This paper explores the relationship between Population Aging and Economic Restructuring in a pri... more This paper explores the relationship between Population Aging and Economic Restructuring in a primary care setting in Northen Italy. It highlights provider's perceptions of standardization and efficiency and the complexity of providing integrated care for old people.
Drafts by Francesco Diodati
Conference paper, 2019
In the global context of aging populations, health authorities have often presented the humanisti... more In the global context of aging populations, health authorities have often presented the
humanistic ideal of putting the Person again at the center of healthcare services as a
solution for decreasing the costs within National Healthcare Systems (WHO 2006). This
paper aims to explore the challenging to the validity of political-economic dogmas
embedded in this view of the model of Person-centred care (Pcc). By analyzing informal
discourses and semi-structured interviews with the providers of an eldercare service in Italy,
I will argue that ʻnewʼ ethics of Pcc ambiguously intertwines with old-standing dominant
approaches of quantifying and standardizing the provision of healthcare services (Lydahl
2017). The philosophy of Pcc highly values the building of long-lasting relationships and
communication between providers, patients, and caregivers to sustain as long as possible
ʻgood care at homeʼ, the cultural vision which dominates the discourses on aging (Lamb
2017). And yet providers believe that health authorities’ logic of efficiency constructs a
model of Person and care needs that neglects their abilities and efforts in sustaining these
relationships within an ideal of Pcc.
Papers by Francesco Diodati
Antropologia pubblica, 2024
This article analyses the relationship between temporality and active ageing in a Parkinson Café.... more This article analyses the relationship between temporality and active ageing in a Parkinson Café. Drawing on ethnographic research, I discuss the functioning of discursive devices and bodily practices that revolve around what I define as the model of the "body in the present". It is a set of discourses and practices that convey a positive and active vision of age by ascribing meaning to the relationship with one's body in the present. Discursive practices and musicotherapy allow participants to detach from a biomedicalised way of living the ageing body that is always oriented to the future decline. Living the body in the present means in that context to positively live with ones 'own physical limitations and being able to relate with other people. However, the efforts of participants and the psychologist was necessary to avoid that active ageing would have become an unrealistic idealized model which would have discriminated the people in the worst health conditions. This article contributes to the study of the relationships between active ageing, temporality and normativity in old age. It shows active ageing not only a dominant discourse but also an embodied experience which can be present-oriented rather than future-oriented. I argue that active ageing can effectively promote social integration, but relational and community work is needed to prevent active and positive visions of active age from reproducing social marginalization among older adults.
Curare: Journal of Medical Anthropology, 2023
This paper focuses on the experiences of home care for elderly people collected during the first ... more This paper focuses on the experiences of home care for elderly people collected during the first phase
of the pandemic in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The Italian response to the virus has been fragmented so far, due to differences
in the way the healthcare system is managed, according to regions and the regulations of individual local
healthcare units. Emilia-Romagna is one of the wealthiest areas in terms of its welfare system and is associated with
a long-standing tradition of a community-care approach targeted to the prevention of chronic health diseases. The
pandemic also posed threats to regions such as Emilia-Romagna causing the interruption of semi-residential care
services, community-based health programmes and support services to home care. The text uses daily-life fragments
to show how a small, interconnected group dealt with family care for elderly people. By showing how the
pandemic met with pre-existent fieldwork relationships, the article discusses the relationship between chronic diseases,
forced isolation, and care activities. This text o>ers a broad understanding of the family care system, which
includes also the care provided by home-care workers. The text shows how community acts of care and reciprocity
played an important role in filling the gap le? by institutions and public care services. The pandemic just worsened
the already existing social inequalities in care, which cannot be masked by the rhetoric on active aging and family
care. These ideas need a serious engagement with structural reforms and cannot be completely le? to individual
capacities or informal acts of communitarian values and reciprocity
Journal of Aging Studies 65, 101141, 2023
The debate on the ethics of dementia research has tended to treat individuals with dementia, prim... more The debate on the ethics of dementia research has tended to treat individuals with dementia, primary caregivers other family members and local communities as preestablished and distinct categories of research participants. What has been overlooked are the meaningful social relationships that run through these categories and how these relationships affect the ethnographer's positionality during and after fieldwork. In this paper, drawing on two cases of ethnographic research on family dementia care in North Italy, we propose two heuristic devices, "meaningful others" and "gray zones", which highlight the ambiguous positionality of ethnographers in care relations and local moral worlds. We further show the benefit of incorporating these devices in discussions on the ethics of dementia care research: by rendering problematic any fixed and polarized positionality of the ethnographer, these two devices allow for a voice to be given to the individuals who represent the main research focus while addressing the interdependence and ethically nuanced dimension of caring relations.
Anthropology & Medicine, Jul 13, 2023
Anthropology & Aging, May 11, 2021
AM. Rivista della Società Italiana di Antropologia Medica, Jun 16, 2021
Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono quando ... more Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono quando si usa il concetto di care. Per l’antropologia medica, esso ha offerto la possibilità di criticare forme di riduzionismo bio-medico della cura. Allo sviluppo di questa visione morale ha contribuito l’aumento di malattie croniche per cui non esiste “cura”, nel senso di guarigione – cure. Allo stesso tempo, il lavoro di cura informale ha assunto un’importanza strategica nello scenario di ristrutturazione dei servizi pubblici di assistenza. In questo senso, la visione morale del “prendersi cura” è stata accusata di distogliere l’attenzione dalle forme di diseguaglianza sociale che si riproducono nell’ambiente domestico e familiare attraverso la cura stessa. Attraverso il racconto etnografico di un convegno di antropologia medica a Edimburgo e un’ulteriore riflessione su una ricerca fra un servizio territoriale di assistenza ad anziani e caregiver in Emilia-Romagna, questo articolo offre alcune indicazioni analitiche sull’antropologia del prendersi cura. Sostengo che la distinzione fra “cura” e “prendersi cura” non rispecchi fino in fondo ciò che c’è davvero in gioco nelle pratiche di assistenza. Per superare le ambivalenze che derivano dallo stesso linguaggio morale che adotta, è necessario che l’antropologia del prendersi cura sposti l’attenzione sui modi in cui è classificata la relazione fra l’accudimento nella sfera domestica e il sistema istituzionale dei servizi di assistenza. Altrimenti, il rischio è quello di perdere di vista la questione di come, in quali circostanze e con quale sostegno pubblico, vengono assegnate le responsabilità di assistenza. Parole chiave: caregiving, ambivalenza, morale, assistenza, invecchiamento
Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, a... more Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, and social isolation experienced in taking care of people with chronic disorders, mostly elderly persons affected by neurodegenerative diseases often requiring intensive assistance for years. The carers movement re-calls in part the ʻpersonhood movementʼ (Leibing 2006; 2017; Moser 2011), which have contested the cultural vision of dementia and chronic-degenerative diseases as a loss of personhood and as a disruption of social life. This paper presents a preliminary set of ethnographic data collected from NGOs' and social services' carer support groups in Northen Italy. Drawing on the consideration of fatigue as an intrinsic component of care rather than as an aberration and anomaly (Danely 2017), I aim to argue that cultural meanings related to fatigue can lead to the re-negotiation of ethical norms of kinship and relatedness present in biomedical environments, that challenge the validity of reductionist, medicalized models of the ʻcare burdenʻ (Greenwood et al. 2018), and celebratory narratives of the social value of family home care (Leibing 2017) in the context of intensive population aging. Sharing care experiences throughout carer groups can result in calling into question individual and collective responsibilities toward others in need (Levinas 1978; Rapport 2018), by putting into crisis the idea of an exclusive dyadic relationship between a care-giver and a care-recipient (Taylor 2017) and thus redefining the boundaries of both traditional family and communal obligations to care (Goodwin, Hawkins 2018). At the same time, the narrations on the care fatigue have embedded the ambiguities related to the distinctions between the subjectivities of paid and voluntary (family) carers, as well as between recognized healthcare professionals and underestimated migrant (home) care workers (Muehelebach 2012; Sadler 2013; Amrith 2017). The ambiguities present in the public claims of the carers movement confirm that the notions and ethics of care have an enormous potential of both inclusion and exclusion (Alber, Drotbohm 2016: 1-3).
Anthropology & Aging, Nov 11, 2021
In Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have provoked potentially serious sh... more In Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have provoked potentially serious short and long-term consequences for older people with serious health conditions as well as their family caregivers. With the closure of adult day-care centres and the suspension of private homecare services, families have needed to rearrange care activities and many are concerned about the situation of their relatives in residential homes. This article examines interpretations of aging and caregiving fatigue during the first period of national lockdown in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The relation between old age, lockdown, and social isolation, with respect to global ideas and rhetoric, focuses on vulnerability, individual autonomy, and caregiving fatigue. I examine how the representation of the 'burden' of caregiving in late age shaped the media depictions, and I analyze it in relation to the meanings of fatigue attached to narrations from family caregivers and the members of a local Alzheimer's Café. I also focus on the life story of one family caregiver to critique the idealized vision of family care that was reproduced during the pandemic. I argue that the recognition of aging and caregiving fatigue during the lockdown reflected pre-existing normative models and structural inequalities of family care rather than radically altering them.
Anthropology & Medicine
Antropologia 9 (1): 75-93, 2021
Questo testo esamina le rappresentazioni della figura di caregiver familiare e professionale nell... more Questo testo esamina le rappresentazioni della figura di caregiver familiare e professionale nell'assistenza domestica agli anziani in Italia. Il riconoscimento istituzionale dell'assistenza nell'ambiente domestico si basa su un'opposizione fra, da un lato, le cure gratuite dettate da un legame affettivo e familiare e, dall'altro, il lavoro di cura a pagamento. Attraverso le prospettive dei partecipanti a progetti di sostegno all'assistenza familiare per anziani non-autosufficienti in Emilia-Romagna, confronto il riconoscimento del caregiver familiare con quello dell'assistente familiare qualificato. I risultati mostrano una discrepanza fra l'opposizione precedentemente menzionata e le prospettive degli attori sociali sui ruoli di accudimento familiare e assistenza professionale. È dunque necessario prendere consapevolezza di come questa opposizione ostacoli gli interventi diretti a sostenere sia familiari che lavoratrici impegnati a prestare assistenza nell'ambiente domestico.
"Kinship, Chronic Illness and Responsibility of Care", Workshop Edinburgh Center for Medical Anthropology, 2019
Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, a... more Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, and social isolation experienced in taking care of people with chronic disorders, mostly elderly persons affected by neurodegenerative diseases often requiring intensive assistance for years. The carers movement re-calls in part the ʻpersonhood movementʼ (Leibing 2006; 2017; Moser 2011), which have contested the cultural vision of dementia and chronic-degenerative diseases as a loss of personhood and as a disruption of social life. This paper presents a preliminary set of ethnographic data collected from NGOs' and social services' carer support groups in Northen Italy. Drawing on the consideration of fatigue as an intrinsic component of care rather than as an aberration and anomaly (Danely 2017), I aim to argue that cultural meanings related to fatigue can lead to the re-negotiation of ethical norms of kinship and relatedness present in biomedical environments, that challenge the validity of reductionist, medicalized models of the ʻcare burdenʻ (Greenwood et al. 2018), and celebratory narratives of the social value of family home care (Leibing 2017) in the context of intensive population aging. Sharing care experiences throughout carer groups can result in calling into question individual and collective responsibilities toward others in need (Levinas 1978; Rapport 2018), by putting into crisis the idea of an exclusive dyadic relationship between a care-giver and a care-recipient (Taylor 2017) and thus redefining the boundaries of both traditional family and communal obligations to care (Goodwin, Hawkins 2018). At the same time, the narrations on the care fatigue have embedded the ambiguities related to the distinctions between the subjectivities of paid and voluntary (family) carers, as well as between recognized healthcare professionals and underestimated migrant (home) care workers (Muehelebach 2012; Sadler 2013; Amrith 2017). The ambiguities present in the public claims of the carers movement confirm that the notions and ethics of care have an enormous potential of both inclusion and exclusion (Alber, Drotbohm 2016: 1-3).
AM. Rivista della Società Italiana di Antropologia Medica, Jun 16, 2021
Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono quando ... more Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono quando si usa il concetto di care. Per l’antropologia medica, esso ha offerto la possibilità di criticare forme di riduzionismo bio-medico della cura. Allo sviluppo di questa visione morale ha contribuito l’aumento di malattie croniche per cui non esiste “cura”, nel senso di guarigione – cure. Allo stesso tempo, il lavoro di cura informale ha assunto un’importanza strategica nello scenario di ristrutturazione dei servizi pubblici di assistenza. In questo senso, la visione morale del “prendersi cura” è stata accusata di distogliere l’attenzione dalle forme di diseguaglianza sociale che si riproducono nell’ambiente domestico e familiare attraverso la cura stessa. Attraverso il racconto etnografico di un convegno di antropologia medica a Edimburgo e un’ulteriore riflessione su una ricerca fra un servizio territoriale di assistenza ad anziani e caregiver in Emilia-Romagna, questo articolo offre alcune indicazioni analitiche sull’antropologia del prendersi cura. Sostengo che la distinzione fra “cura” e “prendersi cura” non rispecchi fino in fondo ciò che c’è davvero in gioco nelle pratiche di assistenza. Per superare le ambivalenze che derivano dallo stesso linguaggio morale che adotta, è necessario che l’antropologia del prendersi cura sposti l’attenzione sui modi in cui è classificata la relazione fra l’accudimento nella sfera domestica e il sistema istituzionale dei servizi di assistenza. Altrimenti, il rischio è quello di perdere di vista la questione di come, in quali circostanze e con quale sostegno pubblico, vengono assegnate le responsabilità di assistenza. Parole chiave: caregiving, ambivalenza, morale, assistenza, invecchiamento
Diodati F., Pais I., Bonifacio F., Lodigiani R. (2024), Long Term Care policy and care work - Italy. Socio-economic literature report at a Country level: Italy. Origami project. Disponibile a: https://origamiproject.it/reports/d2.1-italy.pdf, 2024
This report on long-term care policy in Italy before and after the pandemic comes from the compar... more This report on long-term care policy in Italy before and after the pandemic comes from the comparative project ORIGAMI – home care digital platforms and Industrial relations - funded by DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion). Based on a non-systematic review of the recent quantitative and qualitative studies and the reports from NGOs and trade unions, the policy analysis calls for the absence of a stronger role play by the State in formalizing the care market, which implies the involvement of healthcare and social services. Without state regulations, the increasing marketization of private care tends to increase social inequalities, produce benefits only for a small part of the population, and generate limited regularization trends.
Roberto Plevano nasce a Chiavenna (SO) nel 1948. La carriera artistica inizia a 23 anni a Milano.... more Roberto Plevano nasce a Chiavenna (SO) nel 1948. La carriera artistica inizia a 23 anni a Milano. Le prime opere raffigurano i luoghi dell'infanzia, le montagne della Valchiavenna, la casa natia, ma anche vedute urbane di Milano in cui Plevano affina la tecnica pittorica, acquisita da autodidatta. Dopo i primi anni figurativi avviene la svolta: le forme delle case, delle montagne, dei navigli milanesi, iniziano a divenire sintetiche e geometriche fino ad abbandonare del tutto la raffigurazione del visibile. Inizia qui un percorso di ricerca sull'astratto che dura tutt'ora. LA COPERTINA DI QUESTO NUMERO ROBERTO PLEVANO Regata velica o della cristallina molteplicità (1987)-olio su tela-120 x 80 cm-collezione privata http://www.plevano.com/ L'anno scorso si è svolto un bell'incontro tra Con piacere e come omaggio al Maestro, ve lo riproponiamo al seguente link: Roberto Plevano e l'Associazione Nestore. e diverso, raccogliere le vostre opinioni in generale, sui cambiamenti introdotti e sulle specifiche parti. Se la nostra proposta vi interessa, se è eccessiva, adeguata, equilibrata e godibile, ce lo direte voi. Ricordiamoci tutti che i cambiamenti non finiscono mai. LE IMMAGINI DELLA SEZIONE TEMATICA "INVECCHIAMENTO ATTIVO" Nella prima sezione della rivista abbiamo scelto, dove l'impaginazione lo permetteva, come alleggerimento al testo, alcuni dettagli-molto ravvicinati-di opere pittoriche prodotte da artisti in età avanzata, scelta che ci è sembrata in linea con il tema di questo numero. Per questa operazione abbiamo utilizzato immagini ad altissima risoluzione digitalizzate da Google Arts & Culture, che ci fa piacere segnalarvi per la qualità e la quantità degli spunti che vi potete trovare. di utilizzare https://artsandculture.google.com/ https://youtu.be/JP2BvflSLEI Dove non diversamente specificato, tutti i testi contenuti nella presente pubblicazione ricadono sotto una licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione 4.
Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, a... more Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, and social isolation experienced in taking care of people with chronic disorders, mostly elderly persons affected by neurodegenerative diseases often requiring intensive assistance for years.
The carers movement re-calls in part the ʻpersonhood movementʼ (Leibing 2006; 2017; Moser 2011), which have contested the cultural vision of dementia and chronic-degenerative diseases as a loss of personhood and as a disruption of social life. This paper presents a preliminary set of ethnographic data collected from NGOs' and social services' carer support groups in Northen Italy. Drawing on the consideration of fatigue as an intrinsic component of care rather than as an aberration and anomaly (Danely 2017), I aim to argue that cultural meanings related to fatigue can lead to the re-negotiation of ethical norms of kinship and relatedness present in biomedical environments, that challenge the validity of reductionist, medicalized models of the ʻcare burdenʻ (Greenwood et al. 2018), and celebratory narratives of the social value of family home care (Leibing 2017) in the context of intensive population aging. Sharing care experiences throughout carer groups can result in calling into question individual and collective responsibilities toward others in need (Levinas 1978; Rapport 2018), by putting into crisis the idea of an exclusive dyadic relationship between a care-giver and a care-recipient (Taylor 2017) and thus redefining the boundaries of both traditional family and communal obligations to care (Goodwin, Hawkins 2018). At the same time, the narrations on the care fatigue have embedded the ambiguities related to the distinctions between the subjectivities of paid and voluntary (family) carers, as well as between recognized healthcare professionals and underestimated migrant (home) care workers (Muehelebach 2012; Sadler 2013; Amrith 2017).
The ambiguities present in the public claims of the carers movement confirm that the notions and ethics of care have an enormous potential of both inclusion and exclusion (Alber, Drotbohm 2016: 1-3).
This paper explores the relationship between Population Aging and Economic Restructuring in a pri... more This paper explores the relationship between Population Aging and Economic Restructuring in a primary care setting in Northen Italy. It highlights provider's perceptions of standardization and efficiency and the complexity of providing integrated care for old people.
Conference paper, 2019
In the global context of aging populations, health authorities have often presented the humanisti... more In the global context of aging populations, health authorities have often presented the
humanistic ideal of putting the Person again at the center of healthcare services as a
solution for decreasing the costs within National Healthcare Systems (WHO 2006). This
paper aims to explore the challenging to the validity of political-economic dogmas
embedded in this view of the model of Person-centred care (Pcc). By analyzing informal
discourses and semi-structured interviews with the providers of an eldercare service in Italy,
I will argue that ʻnewʼ ethics of Pcc ambiguously intertwines with old-standing dominant
approaches of quantifying and standardizing the provision of healthcare services (Lydahl
2017). The philosophy of Pcc highly values the building of long-lasting relationships and
communication between providers, patients, and caregivers to sustain as long as possible
ʻgood care at homeʼ, the cultural vision which dominates the discourses on aging (Lamb
2017). And yet providers believe that health authorities’ logic of efficiency constructs a
model of Person and care needs that neglects their abilities and efforts in sustaining these
relationships within an ideal of Pcc.
Antropologia pubblica, 2024
This article analyses the relationship between temporality and active ageing in a Parkinson Café.... more This article analyses the relationship between temporality and active ageing in a Parkinson Café. Drawing on ethnographic research, I discuss the functioning of discursive devices and bodily practices that revolve around what I define as the model of the "body in the present". It is a set of discourses and practices that convey a positive and active vision of age by ascribing meaning to the relationship with one's body in the present. Discursive practices and musicotherapy allow participants to detach from a biomedicalised way of living the ageing body that is always oriented to the future decline. Living the body in the present means in that context to positively live with ones 'own physical limitations and being able to relate with other people. However, the efforts of participants and the psychologist was necessary to avoid that active ageing would have become an unrealistic idealized model which would have discriminated the people in the worst health conditions. This article contributes to the study of the relationships between active ageing, temporality and normativity in old age. It shows active ageing not only a dominant discourse but also an embodied experience which can be present-oriented rather than future-oriented. I argue that active ageing can effectively promote social integration, but relational and community work is needed to prevent active and positive visions of active age from reproducing social marginalization among older adults.
Curare: Journal of Medical Anthropology, 2023
This paper focuses on the experiences of home care for elderly people collected during the first ... more This paper focuses on the experiences of home care for elderly people collected during the first phase
of the pandemic in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The Italian response to the virus has been fragmented so far, due to differences
in the way the healthcare system is managed, according to regions and the regulations of individual local
healthcare units. Emilia-Romagna is one of the wealthiest areas in terms of its welfare system and is associated with
a long-standing tradition of a community-care approach targeted to the prevention of chronic health diseases. The
pandemic also posed threats to regions such as Emilia-Romagna causing the interruption of semi-residential care
services, community-based health programmes and support services to home care. The text uses daily-life fragments
to show how a small, interconnected group dealt with family care for elderly people. By showing how the
pandemic met with pre-existent fieldwork relationships, the article discusses the relationship between chronic diseases,
forced isolation, and care activities. This text o>ers a broad understanding of the family care system, which
includes also the care provided by home-care workers. The text shows how community acts of care and reciprocity
played an important role in filling the gap le? by institutions and public care services. The pandemic just worsened
the already existing social inequalities in care, which cannot be masked by the rhetoric on active aging and family
care. These ideas need a serious engagement with structural reforms and cannot be completely le? to individual
capacities or informal acts of communitarian values and reciprocity
Journal of Aging Studies 65, 101141, 2023
The debate on the ethics of dementia research has tended to treat individuals with dementia, prim... more The debate on the ethics of dementia research has tended to treat individuals with dementia, primary caregivers other family members and local communities as preestablished and distinct categories of research participants. What has been overlooked are the meaningful social relationships that run through these categories and how these relationships affect the ethnographer's positionality during and after fieldwork. In this paper, drawing on two cases of ethnographic research on family dementia care in North Italy, we propose two heuristic devices, "meaningful others" and "gray zones", which highlight the ambiguous positionality of ethnographers in care relations and local moral worlds. We further show the benefit of incorporating these devices in discussions on the ethics of dementia care research: by rendering problematic any fixed and polarized positionality of the ethnographer, these two devices allow for a voice to be given to the individuals who represent the main research focus while addressing the interdependence and ethically nuanced dimension of caring relations.
Anthropology & Medicine, Jul 13, 2023
Anthropology & Aging, May 11, 2021
AM. Rivista della Società Italiana di Antropologia Medica, Jun 16, 2021
Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono quando ... more Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono quando si usa il concetto di care. Per l’antropologia medica, esso ha offerto la possibilità di criticare forme di riduzionismo bio-medico della cura. Allo sviluppo di questa visione morale ha contribuito l’aumento di malattie croniche per cui non esiste “cura”, nel senso di guarigione – cure. Allo stesso tempo, il lavoro di cura informale ha assunto un’importanza strategica nello scenario di ristrutturazione dei servizi pubblici di assistenza. In questo senso, la visione morale del “prendersi cura” è stata accusata di distogliere l’attenzione dalle forme di diseguaglianza sociale che si riproducono nell’ambiente domestico e familiare attraverso la cura stessa. Attraverso il racconto etnografico di un convegno di antropologia medica a Edimburgo e un’ulteriore riflessione su una ricerca fra un servizio territoriale di assistenza ad anziani e caregiver in Emilia-Romagna, questo articolo offre alcune indicazioni analitiche sull’antropologia del prendersi cura. Sostengo che la distinzione fra “cura” e “prendersi cura” non rispecchi fino in fondo ciò che c’è davvero in gioco nelle pratiche di assistenza. Per superare le ambivalenze che derivano dallo stesso linguaggio morale che adotta, è necessario che l’antropologia del prendersi cura sposti l’attenzione sui modi in cui è classificata la relazione fra l’accudimento nella sfera domestica e il sistema istituzionale dei servizi di assistenza. Altrimenti, il rischio è quello di perdere di vista la questione di come, in quali circostanze e con quale sostegno pubblico, vengono assegnate le responsabilità di assistenza. Parole chiave: caregiving, ambivalenza, morale, assistenza, invecchiamento
Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, a... more Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, and social isolation experienced in taking care of people with chronic disorders, mostly elderly persons affected by neurodegenerative diseases often requiring intensive assistance for years. The carers movement re-calls in part the ʻpersonhood movementʼ (Leibing 2006; 2017; Moser 2011), which have contested the cultural vision of dementia and chronic-degenerative diseases as a loss of personhood and as a disruption of social life. This paper presents a preliminary set of ethnographic data collected from NGOs' and social services' carer support groups in Northen Italy. Drawing on the consideration of fatigue as an intrinsic component of care rather than as an aberration and anomaly (Danely 2017), I aim to argue that cultural meanings related to fatigue can lead to the re-negotiation of ethical norms of kinship and relatedness present in biomedical environments, that challenge the validity of reductionist, medicalized models of the ʻcare burdenʻ (Greenwood et al. 2018), and celebratory narratives of the social value of family home care (Leibing 2017) in the context of intensive population aging. Sharing care experiences throughout carer groups can result in calling into question individual and collective responsibilities toward others in need (Levinas 1978; Rapport 2018), by putting into crisis the idea of an exclusive dyadic relationship between a care-giver and a care-recipient (Taylor 2017) and thus redefining the boundaries of both traditional family and communal obligations to care (Goodwin, Hawkins 2018). At the same time, the narrations on the care fatigue have embedded the ambiguities related to the distinctions between the subjectivities of paid and voluntary (family) carers, as well as between recognized healthcare professionals and underestimated migrant (home) care workers (Muehelebach 2012; Sadler 2013; Amrith 2017). The ambiguities present in the public claims of the carers movement confirm that the notions and ethics of care have an enormous potential of both inclusion and exclusion (Alber, Drotbohm 2016: 1-3).
Anthropology & Aging, Nov 11, 2021
In Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have provoked potentially serious sh... more In Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have provoked potentially serious short and long-term consequences for older people with serious health conditions as well as their family caregivers. With the closure of adult day-care centres and the suspension of private homecare services, families have needed to rearrange care activities and many are concerned about the situation of their relatives in residential homes. This article examines interpretations of aging and caregiving fatigue during the first period of national lockdown in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The relation between old age, lockdown, and social isolation, with respect to global ideas and rhetoric, focuses on vulnerability, individual autonomy, and caregiving fatigue. I examine how the representation of the 'burden' of caregiving in late age shaped the media depictions, and I analyze it in relation to the meanings of fatigue attached to narrations from family caregivers and the members of a local Alzheimer's Café. I also focus on the life story of one family caregiver to critique the idealized vision of family care that was reproduced during the pandemic. I argue that the recognition of aging and caregiving fatigue during the lockdown reflected pre-existing normative models and structural inequalities of family care rather than radically altering them.
Anthropology & Medicine
Antropologia 9 (1): 75-93, 2021
Questo testo esamina le rappresentazioni della figura di caregiver familiare e professionale nell... more Questo testo esamina le rappresentazioni della figura di caregiver familiare e professionale nell'assistenza domestica agli anziani in Italia. Il riconoscimento istituzionale dell'assistenza nell'ambiente domestico si basa su un'opposizione fra, da un lato, le cure gratuite dettate da un legame affettivo e familiare e, dall'altro, il lavoro di cura a pagamento. Attraverso le prospettive dei partecipanti a progetti di sostegno all'assistenza familiare per anziani non-autosufficienti in Emilia-Romagna, confronto il riconoscimento del caregiver familiare con quello dell'assistente familiare qualificato. I risultati mostrano una discrepanza fra l'opposizione precedentemente menzionata e le prospettive degli attori sociali sui ruoli di accudimento familiare e assistenza professionale. È dunque necessario prendere consapevolezza di come questa opposizione ostacoli gli interventi diretti a sostenere sia familiari che lavoratrici impegnati a prestare assistenza nell'ambiente domestico.
"Kinship, Chronic Illness and Responsibility of Care", Workshop Edinburgh Center for Medical Anthropology, 2019
Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, a... more Recently, it has grown a public debate on the carer fatigue: physical and emotional exhaustion, and social isolation experienced in taking care of people with chronic disorders, mostly elderly persons affected by neurodegenerative diseases often requiring intensive assistance for years. The carers movement re-calls in part the ʻpersonhood movementʼ (Leibing 2006; 2017; Moser 2011), which have contested the cultural vision of dementia and chronic-degenerative diseases as a loss of personhood and as a disruption of social life. This paper presents a preliminary set of ethnographic data collected from NGOs' and social services' carer support groups in Northen Italy. Drawing on the consideration of fatigue as an intrinsic component of care rather than as an aberration and anomaly (Danely 2017), I aim to argue that cultural meanings related to fatigue can lead to the re-negotiation of ethical norms of kinship and relatedness present in biomedical environments, that challenge the validity of reductionist, medicalized models of the ʻcare burdenʻ (Greenwood et al. 2018), and celebratory narratives of the social value of family home care (Leibing 2017) in the context of intensive population aging. Sharing care experiences throughout carer groups can result in calling into question individual and collective responsibilities toward others in need (Levinas 1978; Rapport 2018), by putting into crisis the idea of an exclusive dyadic relationship between a care-giver and a care-recipient (Taylor 2017) and thus redefining the boundaries of both traditional family and communal obligations to care (Goodwin, Hawkins 2018). At the same time, the narrations on the care fatigue have embedded the ambiguities related to the distinctions between the subjectivities of paid and voluntary (family) carers, as well as between recognized healthcare professionals and underestimated migrant (home) care workers (Muehelebach 2012; Sadler 2013; Amrith 2017). The ambiguities present in the public claims of the carers movement confirm that the notions and ethics of care have an enormous potential of both inclusion and exclusion (Alber, Drotbohm 2016: 1-3).
AM. Rivista della Società Italiana di Antropologia Medica, Jun 16, 2021
Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono quando ... more Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono quando si usa il concetto di care. Per l’antropologia medica, esso ha offerto la possibilità di criticare forme di riduzionismo bio-medico della cura. Allo sviluppo di questa visione morale ha contribuito l’aumento di malattie croniche per cui non esiste “cura”, nel senso di guarigione – cure. Allo stesso tempo, il lavoro di cura informale ha assunto un’importanza strategica nello scenario di ristrutturazione dei servizi pubblici di assistenza. In questo senso, la visione morale del “prendersi cura” è stata accusata di distogliere l’attenzione dalle forme di diseguaglianza sociale che si riproducono nell’ambiente domestico e familiare attraverso la cura stessa. Attraverso il racconto etnografico di un convegno di antropologia medica a Edimburgo e un’ulteriore riflessione su una ricerca fra un servizio territoriale di assistenza ad anziani e caregiver in Emilia-Romagna, questo articolo offre alcune indicazioni analitiche sull’antropologia del prendersi cura. Sostengo che la distinzione fra “cura” e “prendersi cura” non rispecchi fino in fondo ciò che c’è davvero in gioco nelle pratiche di assistenza. Per superare le ambivalenze che derivano dallo stesso linguaggio morale che adotta, è necessario che l’antropologia del prendersi cura sposti l’attenzione sui modi in cui è classificata la relazione fra l’accudimento nella sfera domestica e il sistema istituzionale dei servizi di assistenza. Altrimenti, il rischio è quello di perdere di vista la questione di come, in quali circostanze e con quale sostegno pubblico, vengono assegnate le responsabilità di assistenza. Parole chiave: caregiving, ambivalenza, morale, assistenza, invecchiamento
Anthropology & Aging, 2021
In Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have provoked potentially serious sh... more In Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have provoked potentially serious short and long-term consequences for older people with serious health conditions as well as their family caregivers. With the closure of adult day-care centres and the suspension of private homecare services, families have needed to rearrange care activities and many are concerned about the situation of their relatives in residential homes. This article examines interpretations of aging and caregiving fatigue during the first period of national lockdown in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The relation between old age, lockdown, and social isolation, with respect to global ideas and rhetoric, focuses on vulnerability, individual autonomy, and caregiving fatigue. I examine how the representation of the ‘burden’ of caregiving in late age shaped the media depictions, and I analyze it in relation to the meanings of fatigue attached to narrations from family caregivers and the members of a local Alzheimer...
Anthropology & Aging, 2021
Anthropology & Aging, 2021
In Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have provoked potentially serious sh... more In Italy, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have provoked potentially serious short and long-term consequences for older people with serious health conditions as well as their family caregivers. With the closure of adult day-care centres and the suspension of private homecare services, families have needed to rearrange care activities and many are concerned about the situation of their relatives in residential homes. This article examines interpretations of aging and caregiving fatigue during the first period of national lockdown in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The relation between old age, lockdown, and social isolation, with respect to global ideas and rhetoric, focuses on vulnerability, individual autonomy, and caregiving fatigue. I examine how the representation of the 'burden' of caregiving in late age shaped the media depictions, and I analyze it in relation to the meanings of fatigue attached to narrations from family caregivers and the members of a local Alzheimer's Café. I also focus on the life story of one family caregiver to critique the idealized vision of family care that was reproduced during the pandemic. I argue that the recognition of aging and caregiving fatigue during the lockdown reflected pre-existing normative models and structural inequalities of family care rather than radically altering them.
AM: Rivista della società italiana di antropologia medica, 2021
Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono quando ... more Numerose ambivalenze, conflitti interpretativi e problemi di traduzione culturale sorgono
quando si usa il concetto di care. Per l’antropologia medica, esso ha offerto la
possibilità di criticare forme di riduzionismo bio-medico della cura. Allo sviluppo di
questa visione morale ha contribuito l’aumento di malattie croniche per cui non esiste
“cura”, nel senso di guarigione – cure. Allo stesso tempo, il lavoro di cura informale ha
assunto un’importanza strategica nello scenario di ristrutturazione dei servizi pubblici
di assistenza. In questo senso, la visione morale del “prendersi cura” è stata accusata
di distogliere l’attenzione dalle forme di diseguaglianza sociale che si riproducono
nell’ambiente domestico e familiare attraverso la cura stessa.
Attraverso il racconto etnografico di un convegno di antropologia medica a Edimburgo e un’ulteriore riflessione su una ricerca fra un servizio territoriale di assistenza ad anziani e caregiver in Emilia-Romagna, questo articolo offre alcune indicazioni analitiche sull’antropologia del prendersi cura. Sostengo che la distinzione fra “cura” e “prendersi
cura” non rispecchi fino in fondo ciò che c’è davvero in gioco nelle pratiche di assistenza.
Per superare le ambivalenze che derivano dallo stesso linguaggio morale che adotta, è necessario che l’antropologia del prendersi cura sposti l’attenzione sui modi in cui è classificata la relazione fra l’accudimento nella sfera domestica e il sistema istituzionale dei servizi di assistenza. Altrimenti, il rischio è quello di perdere di vista la questione di come, in quali circostanze e con quale sostegno pubblico, vengono assegnate le responsabilità di assistenza.
Parole chiave: caregiving, ambivalenza, morale, assistenza, invecchiamento
Ledizioni Milano, 2021
Le ultime decadi del ventesimo secolo e le prime del ventunesimo hanno segnato l’avvento di una n... more Le ultime decadi del ventesimo secolo e le prime del ventunesimo hanno segnato l’avvento di una nuova epoca di longevità. A lungo considerato dalla demografia e dalla gerontologia esclusivo dei paesi industrializzati europei e nordamericani, il processo di invecchiamento demografico ha coinvolto progressivamente anche gli altri continenti. Questa nuova era di longevità è stata recepita di frequente in modo ambivalente, da un lato come la concretizzazione dell’ideale moderno della lunga vita, dall’altro come l’aumento drammatico di una popolazione sempre più bisognosa di assistenza.
Questa selezione di influenti ricerche etnografiche e antropologiche offre una disamina della domanda di assistenza agli anziani in chiave trans-culturale e globale, condotta a partire dall’esplorazione di cinque differenti aree geografiche nell’epoca attuale – sub continente indiano, Africa occidentale, Nord America, Europa mediterranea e Asia orientale. Il volume è caratterizzato da un approccio comparativo e critico, che prende le distanze da un’immagine idealizzata della longevità ma che rifiuta al tempo stesso la metafora del “peso” della cura.
In questo senso la cura è vista come una forza imprescindibile nella costruzione di categorie sociali fondamentali. Attraverso gli studi proposti, le pratiche di assistenza agli anziani emergono dunque come punti privilegiati di osservazione su temi che interessano in definitiva la formazione della persona e delle traiettorie di vita.